VIJAYAWADA: Eight of the top 10 consultancies in Hyderabad and two out of the top 10 agents with the highest approval rating in the country were involved in the fraud that finally led to several Indian students, mainly from Telugu-speaking states, being slapped with deportation notices in New Zealand.
An investigation by the Mumbai Area Office of Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has uncovered a multi-layered financial fraud by Hyderabad-based agents. Some bank officials are involved in the scam as per the investigation report of Immigration New Zealand accessed by Express.
As per the documents, the modus operandi of the agents was to use genuine education loan sanction letters obtained by students from banks and after visa approval in-principle (AIP), they would submit fraudulent education loan disbursal letters from the same banks. Then funds from another (hidden) source would be transferred to New Zealand to pay tuition fees. In all cases, the sanction letters were real. The investigation began in Jan-Feb 2016 - perhaps coinciding with the mail sent by the disgruntled student (see the next story).
The students were served notices based on the investigation report. Approximately, 160 students, who submitted fake documents to pursue higher studies in the country, have been asked to leave before Feb 22 or be prepared to face deportation. Over 120 of them have already returned to India.
The aggrieved students had waged an eight-month long legal battle with INZ authorities hoping that they would be allowed to stay back at least until their course was completed. However, INZ authorities refused to accept their request, but offered them a deal that if they left before Feb 22, they would not be ‘deported.’
“A majority of the students have contacted the Indian High Commission wanting to file complaints against the agents. The Indian High Commission didn’t even bother to respond to their requests. IHC has neither come to the rescue of the students nor has it gotten in touch with New Zealand government regarding the issue. The students have the support of the opposition political parties, all church groups and Trade Unions here,” Immigration Law Specialist Alastair McClymont, who is representing the Indian students, told Express.
The student, who we are calling Abhinay, returned to India after receiving a notice from the Immigration New Zealand (INZ), asking him to leave the country for having entered the country on fake bank statements. He went to New Zealand to study postgraduate diploma course at AWI International College in Auckland in 2015, through an educational consultancy in Ongole, which is affiliated to an international consultancy.
He paid the consultancy around `20 lakh including a commission of `50,000, which in turn paid the college in New Zealand.
“I was confident that I will get work visa for one year, after completion of my course. But, one of my classmates and my roommate in Auckland, Sudheer (name changed) from Hyderabad, was the prime reason for me to come back to India,” said Abhinay.
He said that Sudheer, who also joined the same course, was aware that the consultancy had taken money to show false bank statements. He was frustrated that he was unable to get a part-time job in Auckland.
According to Abhinay, Sudheer left Auckland one fine day and told friends that he would send a letter to the New Zealand government exposing the false bank statements produced by the students to gain admission.
“Sudheer was unfit to study there. He was not even regular to college and could not find any job in Auckland, where all others were earning and having good time.”
“He tried to negotiate with the college to get his money back, as he discontinued the course. They asked him to contact the consultancy, but the consultancy also refused to repay the money. Frustrated with this, he emailed INZ saying that hundreds of students had used false bank statements to enter the country and he also reportedly abused the government,” he added.
Soon after the e-mail was sent, immigration officials started gathering details of Indian students who had taken admission in 2015 and issued liability notices to them to leave the country in a month.
Alastair Mcclymont, the lawyer representing the group of Indian students, said Immigration New Zealand would allow the students to reapply once they submit original documents.